The Secret Life of Knitters
by Slash4Femme
Summary: Who knits and who doesn't? That is the question. Gil/David


_This is a work of fanfiction based on the TV show, _CSI_. This is a Gil/David story. It is quite popular for men to knit these days; for more information check out _Knitting With Balls_ by _Michael Del Vecchio_. This story is also dedicated to the CSI group on Ravelry, who love knitting as much as they love CSI. I don't own the characters and universe for these shows, nor do I make money off of them. The only things I own are my imagination and the wacky and wonderful world therein._

The Secret Life of Knitters

The first time Gil Grissom made David Hodges a pair of lace-knit socks, David had stared from the socks to Gil and back again as if he had just been offered proof of alien invasions.

"You knit?"

Gil pursed his lips and looked over his glasses at David.

"Apparently."

"You knit? You knit me socks?"

Gil gave David his hurt puppy dog look that never failed to make Hodges want to slap himself upside the head and wonder why he had to be the world's biggest bastard all the time.

"If you don't like them you don't have to wear them."

"No, no."

David looked at the socks in his hands.

"They're . . .very nice socks and I'm sure they're very comfortable, and I'm touched, really, that you knit them for me."

Gil smiled and sat back on the couch, arms folded across his chest. Hodges wondered what Gil was waiting for, then realized he was still holding the socks and hastily took off his store-bought ones and put Gil's handmade ones on instead. For a moment they both inspected his feet in silence. David had to admit they were probably the nicest socks he'd ever owned, and the fact that Gil had made them for him was just sweet.

"So where did you learn to knit?"

"From my mother."

Hodges took this information in.

"Gil…don't take this the wrong way, but I didn't know men knit."

Gil smiled at this.

"Knitting has become very popular these days; lots of men knit. In fact last time I went to a forensic conference we had an impromptu knitting circle in the evening."

"And were there men in this knitting circle? Besides from you, that is?"

David sat down on the couch and Gil reached out to put one arm around his shoulders.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, there were."

They sat there quietly for a while.

"Gil?"

"Yes Dave?"

"Do some of the other men who knit working at our lab?"

Gil gave Hodges his little self-satisfied smile that meant David wasn't going to get a straight answer out of him anytime soon.

"Now that would be telling, wouldn't it."

David sighed.

He hadn't managed to pry any more information out of Grissom that night and instead he had simply stuck the question of knitting into the back of his head to think about later. Yet it seemed to surface during dull moments when he was working in the lab. When there was a lull in the work Hodges found himself scanning his coworkers, wondering how many of them also knit socks for their loved ones. At least, he reasoned, this new topic of speculation made a pleasant change from his usual speculation, whether or not Greg Sanders and Nick Stokes were in a romantic relationship, which he'd been engaged in for years without a really viable outcome. In fact he found himself standing at his work counter pipetteing samples wondering if he could start a new betting pool about who was the most likely male CSI to knit. It was ridiculous, but at least it passed the time.

As strange as it seemed, the idea of knitting wouldn't get out of his head and several weeks after first receiving his own pair of hand-knit socks Hodges found himself in the public library covertly checking out books about knitting for men. As soon as he got home he hid the book. Not because he was afraid Grissom would find it, but because he wanted to surprise Grissom with the fact that he now knew how to knit. It was a stupid idea and Hodges knew it, but this same impulse had spurred him to learn American Sign Language and how to cook Thai; he couldn't help it if Grissom made him do crazy things. Knitting ended up being more challenging then he had anticipated, but David Hodges was not one of the best forensic lab technicians in the country for nothing. He started a scarf and discovered – after having to tear the entire thing apart twice – he rather enjoyed it. Soon enough he was bringing it to work with him to work on at spare moments and during his lunch break. He was in fact struggling his way through a particularly tough stitch when a small cough interrupted him. His first panicked thought was Wendy. Getting caught by the DNA tech knitting was a humiliation he knew he'd never live down but when his eyes snapped up the intruder he discovered someone potentially just as bad. Nick Stokes stood in the doorway looking vaguely guilty about interrupting Hodges while he was busy even if it wasn't actually with work.

"Do you have the results for those paint chips I sent in yet?"

"Not yet Stokes, come back in about twenty minutes."

Nick nodded and made to leave the lab before pausing in the doorway.

"So, uh, you knit."

Hodges glanced up again.

"Obviously. So good to know that CSI training is paying off."

"It's just . . ."

Nick actually turned around now.

"I knit too. Sometimes."

Hodges glanced up this time mildly interested.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah"

Nick actually grinned.

"I made this really cute little hat for one of my nieces when she was born. I found this really soft wool . . ."

Somewhere down the hall Catherine shouted Nick's name and he turned hastily to go.

"Anyway, nice to know someone else is into it. I'll come back later for those results, okay?"

And he was gone. Hodges stared after him for a moment, then turned back to his knitting. Several weeks later he presented the finished scarf to Grissom who was more than pleased with it. Several weeks after that, when Grissom came in wearing it, Catherine remarked on how nice it was, then wondered when both Grissom and Hodges simultaneously smiled.


End file.
